Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
DENVER — No. 3 Utah vs. No. 11 Gonzaga. Jakob Poeltl vs. Domantas Sabonis. It’s a matchup made it heaven for fans of the NCAA Tournament, at least for those interested in watching dynamic post players battle it out for a chance at a Sweet 16 berth.
Both Poeltl and Sabonis had tremendous first nights: Poeltl finished the night with 16 points, 18 rebounds and four assists; Sabonis finished with 21 points, 16 rebounds, four assists and two blocks.
Poeltl’s 18 rebounds were a career high and was more rebounds than the entire Fresno State team, who had only 15 rebounds. It’s the first time in at least 50 years that a single player recorded more rebounds than an entire team in an NCAA Tournament game.
“I mean, we had as many offensive rebounds as the other team had rebounds. That doesn't happen very often,” Utah head coach Larry Krystkowiak said about the Fresno State game.
The two bigs each take up 26.2 percent of their team’s possessions as major contributors to their teams and add a dynamic aspect to both the offense and defense. Their counterparts, Kyle Kuzma on Utah and Kyle Wiltjer on Gonzaga, are their teams’ only other major contributors, taking up 24.7 percent and 26.6 percent of all team possessions, respectively.
Offensively, Poeltl is more effective than Sabonis, holding an advantage in offensive rating (124.8 vs. 119.1), effective field goal (64.3 percent vs. 60.7 percent), true shooting (66.5 percent vs. 64.7 percent), free throws drawn per 40 minutes (6.8 vs. 6.0), free throw rate (67.2 percent vs. 53.1 percent), 2-point field goals (64.3 percent vs. 61.3 percent), and offensive rebound percentage (12.1 percent vs. 11.1 percent). Poeltl ranks 16th nationally in effective field goal percentage and 11th nationally in true shooting percentage.
Poeltl’s offensive production is just one of the major factors in being named the Pac-12 Player of the Year award and adding to Utah’s overall offensive success and identity. But just because Poeltl is better statistically on offense doesn’t make Sabonis any less potent or talented. Sabonis is ranked 14th nationally in the percentage of defensive rebounds grabbed during a game at 28.5 percent, which keeps Poeltl, or any other players, from having success with second-chance points.
Gonzaga coach Mark Few believes Sabonis is “the best rebounder I've ever coached, one of the best rebounders I've ever seen in college.”
But as was seen against Seton Hall, Sabonis can score big and have an impact on his team similarly to that of Poeltl. Unless one completely dominates the other, the two will still likely have a major impact on their teams’ success Saturday.
However, it’s the team around these two players that will make a difference in the outcome of Saturday’s game. Poeltl gets a lot of credit for his overall production, but his ability to kick out the ball to the perimeter players for open shots doesn’t go unnoticed.
“He does a great job not only for himself, but he creates for his teammates,” Fresno State head coach Rodney Terry said of Poeltl’s effectiveness Thursday night. “You have to have so much attention to him, where he creates opportunities for guys to make shots.
“He puts a lot of pressure on you in that regard to where they play inside-out and you have to deal with him inside,” Terry added. “He's gotten stronger. It's difficult to guard him one-on-one in the post.”
Sabonis, too, is better with the players around him, particularly Wiltjer, who scores 20.5 points per game and creates a mismatch down in the post. The two playing off each other make it hard for teams to guard and have effectiveness on defense.
“I'd say (Sabonis is) the toughest matchup we've had this year just because of how good Wiltjer's been playing and how he shoots it,” Seton Hall head coach Kevin Willard said Thursday night. “It makes doubling him really hard, I mean really hard.
“I thought (Sabonis) was really impressive,” Willard added. “What I was more impressed from his scoring was I was more impressed with his rebounding. I thought he battled. He was much more physical than he looked on film. He battled in there. I thought he did a really good job of being physical on the rebounding aspect. That's what I was really impressed with him about.”
Both teams had 20 turnovers Thursday but got great production out of their bigs. An advantage from either Poeltl or Sabonis could mean all the difference for their respective team and whether a Sweet 16 berth becomes a reality.
Utah and Gonzaga are expected to tip-off around 7 p.m. MST on TNT. The game time will be approximately 30 minutes after the Iowa State-Arkansas-Little Rock game, which starts at 4:10 p.m. MST.
